Bath hood



Jan. 28 1964 G. T. WEISBECK BATH HOOD Filed Feb. 23, 1962 fieorge 7T f g gck,

BY @6444 [WI AT TORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,119,122 BATH H001) George T. Weisbecir, 117 Indian Trail, Williamsville, NX. Filed Feb. 23, 1962, S61. No. 177,134 Claims. or. 4-162) This invention relates to bath accessories and more particularly to an apparatus or device which may readily be arranged over or upon a bathtub to provide a heat or vapor chamber in association therewith.

It has previously been proposed to associate a hood or canopy of one sort or another upon or over a bathtub to tend to retain the heat or vapor emanating from hot water in the tub to form a heat or vapor chamber.

The present invention relates to a hood of flexible, preferably transparent, sheet material for this general purpose and more particularly provides a hood which may readily be applied to bathtubs of various shapes and conformations and which may be applied with facility by a user after the user has stepped into the bathtub so that he is within the chamber when it is formed. This is an important consideration since otherwise to form a full enclosure it is essential that some special arrangement be provided to permit a user to gain access to the space enclosed beneath the hood after it has been applied to or associated with a bathtub.

In employing the device of the present invention the user may merely project his head through a suitable head opening formed in the flexible sheet material, so that the device comprises a sort of cape or poncho-like arrangement. After thus placing the apparatus over his head the user, having stepped into a bathtub either before or after applying the sheet member over his head, can readily attach a series of marginal or peripheral suction cups to the interior of the bathtub entirely from within the hood and with great facility.

Besides rendering the application extremely convenient to a user, the manner in which the marginal or peripheral vacuum cups are arranged on the outside of the sheet material for attachment to the interior surfaces of a bathtub makes it very easy to apply the same to most any kind of bathtub, regardless of the top edge conformation thereof, and it further permits the device to be attached to the interior of the tub at any level, either near the the top thereof or at any point therebelow.

If the tub is relatively high and the Water level relatively low, the heat or vapor chamber may thus be made smaller than if the device were fastened to the top surface of the tub and accordingly increased concentration of the heat or vapor arising from the water in the tub is achieved.

Wihile various mechanical modifications and variations in detail may be effected without departing from the principles of the present invention, a single specific embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawing and described in the following specification by Way of example. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise form thus illustrated but only as defined in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a phantom perspective View of a bathtub having one form of the device of the present invention assembled therewith;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view transversely through the device of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a detailed cross-sectional view of one of the suction cups employed in attaching the device to bathtub or bath room surfaces.

In the drawing, the numeral designates a bathtub of conventional form having the usual faucet and drain 3,119,122 Patented Jan. 28, 1964 control members indicated generally at 11. The device of the present invention which is indicated generally by the numeral 12 comprises a unitary sheet of flexible material, preferably transparent, which rnay in a preferred form comprise a plastic sheet. The device 12 is preferably shaped to form a convex hood or inverted cup-shaped member of the general form illustrated in FIG. 1.

The manner in which the sheet 12 may be notched, gusseted, gored, shaped, or otherwise tailored to form the desired generally dome-like or inverted cup shape illustrated in FIG. 12 may vary widely. The form thus produced is such that the hood 12 has a depending marginal portion 13 which extends generally around the same. In the illustrated form the margin or periphery of the sheet is specially formed as at 14 to extend around the bath controls 11 and likewise has a depending marginal edge formation 15.

The external surfaces of the marginal portions 13 and 15 which are thus provided are equipped with outwardly facing suction cups '17, one of which is shown in detail associated with margin 13. In FIG. 1 the numeral 18 denotes a more or less central opening for receiving the head of the user so that the hood 12 rests generally on the shoulders of the user and the numeral 19 designates a pair of slit formations through which a user may project his hands and arms for any desired purpose.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the several suction cups 17 are all applied to the interior surfaces of the bathtub 10 and, wherever necessary and at least in certain instances, to the bathroom wall surrounding the controls 11, by pressing outwardly against the marginal portions 13 and 14 of the hood 12 to apply or attach the suction cups. Accordingly, it is relatively simple for the user to attach the margins of the hood to the bathtub and bathroom wall to continuously attach the hood about its margins and form a substantially closed chamber over the interior of the bathtub.

Furthermore, it is obvious that considerable latitude as to height is afforded. that is, the suction cups 17 may be attached anywhere along the interior wall of the bathtub and may therefore be much lower than shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, if desired. The suction cups may be applied at a different level at some portions of the hood than at others, if such an arrangement is desirable, by virtue of the exterior disposition of the suction cups and their attachment to the interior of the bathtub.

I claim:

1. A bath device comprising a substantially rectangular inverted cup-shaped member consisting of a sheet of flexible semi-transparent material having depending marginal edges, said sheet being larger in medial transverse dimensions than in the corresponding edge dimensions, and a series of suction cups attached along the peripheral edges of said member each facing to the same side of said sheet for attachment to the surfaces of a bathtub.

2. A bath hood comprising a substantially rectangular inverted cup-shaped member consisting of a sheet of flexible material having depending marginal edges and having a head opening medially thereof, and suction cup means attached along the peripheral edges of said member each facing the same side of said sheet for attachment to the surfaces of a bathtube by pressing from within said in verted cup-shaped member.

3. A bath device comprising a substantially rectangular inverted cup-shaped member consisting of a sheet of flexible material having depending marginal edges, said sheet being larger in medial transverse dimensions than in the corresponding edge dimensions, and a series of suction cups attached along the peripheral edges of said member each facing to the same side of said sheet for attachment to the surfaces of a bathtub, said inverted cup-shaped member having an upward cutout portion in the periphery adjacent to an end thereof, and suction cups likewise attached to said sheet along the periphery of said cutout portion for attachment to a bath room wall adjacent to an end of said bathtube to enclose the bath fixtures within said device.

4. A bath hood comprising a substantially rectangular elongated inverted cup-shaped member consisting of a sheet of flexible semi-transparent material having depending marginal edges at its two sides and one end thereof,

said cup-shaped member having an upward cutout portion edges, said sheet being larger in medial transverse dimensions than in the corresponding edge dimensions, and

suction cup means along the peripheral edges of said member each facing the same side of said sheet for attachment to the interior surfaces of a bathtube by pressing from within the hood, said inverted cup-shaped member having an upward cutout portion in the periphery adjacent to an end thereof, and suction cup means facing the same side of the sheet as the aforesaid suction cup means and disposed along the periphery of said cutout portion for attachment to a bath room wall adjacent to an end of said bathtub by pressing from within the inverted cup-shaped member to enclose the bath fixtures within said device, said inverted cup-shaped member having a head receiving opening medially thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,604,678 Brueggeman Oct. 26, 1926 1,744,496 Partenico Jan. 21, 1930 1,922,789 Frech et a1. Aug. 15, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS 166,726 Austria Sept. 11, 1950 

1. A BATH DEVICE COMPRISING A SUBSTANTIALLY RECTANGULAR INVERTED CUP-SHAPED MEMBER CONSISTING OF A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE SEMI-TRANSPARENT MATERIAL HAVING DEPENDING MARGINAL EDGES, SAID SHEET BEING LARGER IN MEDIAL TRANSVERSE DIMENSIONS THAN IN THE CORRESPONDING EDGE DIMENSIONS, AND A SERIES OF SUCTION CUPS ATTACHED ALONG THE PERIPHERAL EDGES OF SAID MEMBER EACH FACING TO THE SAME SIDE OF SAID SHEET FOR ATTACHMENT TO THE SURFACES OF A BATHTUB. 